Up to €28 billion in investment and support for 375,000 companies: the 40-year balance sheet of Acción's offices.

BarcelonaIn 1985, 40 years ago, the Catalan Parliament passed the law creating the Business Information and Development Center (CIDEM). This organization included the first foreign investment attraction agency in Spain and one of the pioneers in Europe. A couple of years later, the Catalan government launched the Consortium for the Promotion of Commerce of Catalonia (COPCA) with another objective: to foster the growth of Catalan companies abroad. The merger of the two entities in 2009 gave rise to the current Acció, the business competitiveness agency that now has 40 offices worldwide and aims to facilitate the establishment of Catalan businesses abroad.

The Regional Minister of Business and Employment, Miquel Sàmper, highlighted that the agency has contributed "to creating and maintaining more than 250,000 jobs" during the 40th anniversary celebration, which brought together Catalan companies and organizations at the National Art Museum of Catalonia (MNAC) on Tuesday. During these four decades, Sàmper explained, Acció has supported more than 375,000 business projects through which more than €28 billion in private investment has been mobilized.

The event featured an exhibition reviewing the evolution of the Catalan business community during this time, in parallel with the agency's development. Case studies of Catalan companies that are pioneers in their fields were presented, such as the electrical materials group Simon, the plant-based beverage producer Liquats Vegetals, and the technology company Fractus. In addition, the Secretary of Business and Competitiveness and CEO of Acción, Jaume Baró Torres, held a conversation with Anna Birulés, who held management positions at COPCA and CIDEM in the 1980s, and with whom he discussed the changes the business world has undergone in recent years.

Tokyo, New York, or San Francisco

In the late 1980s, Acció opened its first foreign offices in Tokyo, New York, Brussels, and San Francisco. Since then, the network has grown alongside the growth of Catalan companies' exports. Regarding the lines of aid, the first were launched in 1995 in collaboration with the Interdepartmental Council for Research and Technological Innovation (CIRIT), while in 2007 the line to boost business R&D projects was created, which has distributed more than €300 million. Furthermore, the more than €3.2 billion in foreign investment and investment from Catalan companies mobilized over the last 20 years through the high-impact business investment line is also noteworthy.